In U.S. Pat. No. 4,761,490, there are described inter alia certain compounds of tellurium, which are active in vitro and in vivo for the production of cytokines, and are also useful for treating a number of diseases. Other than TeO2 and certain other specific instances, the described active compounds may be regarded as Te tetrahalides in which two Te-halogen bonds have been replaced by two Te—O bonds (where the two oxygen atoms formed originate in an aliphatic diol), with simultaneous displacement of the two hydroxyl hydrogen atoms. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,739 and EP 0333263, there are described inter alia, biologically active complexes of TeO2 with mono- or poly-hydroxy polycarboxylic acids, or polycarboxylic acids such as citric acid and tartaric acid. The entire contents of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,761,490 and 4,929,739, and of EP 0333263, are incorporated herein by reference.
It has surprisingly been found in accordance with the present invention, that biologically useful complexes TeO2 may be formed from ligands other than the mono- or poly-hydroxy polycarboxylic acids, which are the subject of the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,739 and EP 0333263. Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide aqueous solutions containing novel water soluble complexes of certain hydroxy-containing compounds.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a pharmaceutical composition which is based on the use of the aforementioned aqueous solutions.
It is a further object of this invention to provide methods for the induction of cytokines using the aforementioned aqueous solutions.
Other objects of the invention will appear from the description which follows.